TKC 41 Stephen Windwalker

Intro – My mother and I take the train from Saco, Maine, to Boston’s North Station. We have the same conductor I interviewed in Audio Pod Chronicles # 40.

News (1:56) – Amazon gets serious about charging for wireless conversions of personal documents for reading on the Kindle. Details in special bulletin of Stephen Windwalker’s Kindle Nation.(Click here for free email subscription to Kindle Nation.)

Tech Tip (4:40) – three helpful tips from Linda Hopkins: a wireless shortcut to the Kindle Store, how to delete items from your Kindle 1 or 2 home screen, and what happens when you press the 5-way controller to the right.

Interview (8:49)- Stephen Windwalker, author of The Complete User’s Guide to the Amazing Kindle 2and creator of the weekly e-newsletter, Kindle Nation, serves me delicious pancakes at his home and talks about creating Kindle Nation, Digital Rights Management, how his use of the Kindle has changed, and the surprising results from his recent Kindle survey.

Comments 5

Rusty Brown wrote:

Hi, Last week I put some hot spring pool time at Chico Montana, I wanted to read my Kindle (1). I grabbed a large ziplock bag and read away, the book readers were envious. During my pool time I had a question that maybe you can answer, the person was thinking about buying a Kindle2 to get newspapers. They do a lot of world travel, how would they be able to get their downloads, any ideas? Keep the podcast coming! Rusty

I just finished listening to the podcast and had a question regarding Instapaper.

Will we be changed the new Amazon document fee which begins today for items sent to our Kindle 2 via Instapaper? I heard it mentioned on your podcast that this is the case for Hatchet.

If this is the case, why are we being charged? I thought the fee was for using Amazon to convert a document and then sending it to the Kindle… if we are being charged for the use of Instapaper aren’t we just paying for the use of the Wispernet bandwidth?

Hi Len, I’m the creator of Hatchet — thank you for mentioning the website in your show!

In the podcast, you noted that you like the additional information that Instapaper appends to the bottom of the converted documents. I’m out of the country at the moment, so I can’t test out the Instapaper-to-Kindle conversion myself, but if you’ll let me know what additional info you’d like to see as part of the converted doc, I’ll be happy to try to update the app to satisfy your needs.

Hi Len…my husband just bought me a Kindle 2 for Mother’s Day, and I am trying to be patient while it is on it’s way, on a UPS truck somewhere in KY. (I’m in the Pacific Northwest) Meanwhile, I downloaded all of your Kindle Chron. podcasts onto my I Pod and am enjoying them. I’m on #18 now. I’d love to know your opinion of someone using a Kindle who is completely computer illiterate, has no computer in fact, but loves to read. I am thinking of my mother, who is an avid reader and whom I know would love the Kindle. I wonder, though, if she would get as much out of it without access to a computer. (She doesn’t live close to me, or I would be able to help in that)